Abbas’s shortsighted Gaza policy; How Israel has erased the Green Line

What We’re Reading

Palestinian politics

Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas’s efforts to increase Hamas’s isolation – by cutting salaries and then electricity to the Gaza Strip – mirror regional dynamics in the age of Trump. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt have all mobilized to isolate Qatar, a major investor in the Gaza Strip and a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Hamas in Gaza.

The new regulation follows the passing of a law this past March that forbids the issuance of a visa or other entry permit to foreign citizens who have called for a boycott of Israel or the settlements.

“Since 1967, the Israeli media has hid the ugly, everyday reality in the occupied territories. But even if they really knew, would Israelis still choose to end 50 years of military rule over the Palestinians?” asks Yizhar Be’er.

US-Israeli/Palestinian relations

Messinger, the chair of the Union for Reform Judaism, will be boycotting Israel’s national airline as part of her protest of the Israeli government’s two votes last week that empowered its Orthodox sector at the expense of more liberal groups.